MFAT strongly recommends that anyone thinking about doing business with North Koreans or North Korean companies obtain independent legal advice to avoid breaching the sanctions regulations.

New Zealanders considering travel to North Korea may also wish to seek legal advice. We also strongly recommend that you read the advice available on SafeTravel (external link).

A person breaching the sanctions regulations could be liable for up to 12 months imprisonment or a fine of up to $10,000. A company breaching the sanctions regulations could be liable for a fine of up to $100,000.

You can find out more about the UNSC sanctions resolutions here (external link). Since 2006, the UNSC has adopted a series of sanctions resolutions in response to international concerns about North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and proliferation activities.

New Zealand's sanctions regulations were last amended on 4 January 2018. You can find the full text of the regulations here (external link).

Some of the key restrictions in the sanctions regulations are outlined below. The following list is a summary only and is not comprehensive. We recommend that you look at the detailed regulations when making decisions about any dealing with North Korea.

Arms Embargo

The regulations prohibit the direct and indirect export and import of any arms to or from North Korea. The regulations also prohibit loading or carrying arms to North Korea on a New Zealand craft, providing training or assistance to any person in North Korea on the use of arms, and other dealings in arms that are intended for North Korea (see regulations 4-10).

Asset Freeze

The regulations prohibit transferring, selling, or otherwise dealing with any property (including land, shares, or money) that is owned or controlled by the Government of North Korea, a person designated by the UN's North Korea sanctions committee, or someone who is assisting in evading the sanctions regime (see regulations 44-46). You can access the list of people and entities designated by the UN here. (external link)

Crewing services

The regulations prohibit procuring any crew (for an aircraft or a ship) from North Korea (see regulation 37).

Crude oil

The regulations prohibit supplying, selling, or transferring any crude oil to North Korea (see regulations 33 and 34B).

Detention and deportation

The regulations require New Zealand to detain and deport certain people if they are in New Zealand (see regulations 48-53). These people include:

Export ban: Luxury goods

The regulations prohibit exporting (directly or indirectly), selling, or transferring any "luxury goods" to North Korea. They also prohibit loading or carrying luxury goods to North Korea on any New Zealand craft (see regulations 11-16).

Export ban: Petroleum products

The regulations prohibit exporting (directly or indirectly), selling, or transferring any "specified petroleum products" for use in or for the benefit of North Korea (with some narrow exceptions). The regulations also prohibit loading or carrying specified petroleum products to North Korea on any New Zealand craft (see regulations 29-34A).

Financial services

The regulations prevent any financial service providers incorporated in North Korea from establishing branches or subsidiaries in New Zealand and prohibit New Zealand financial service providers from establishing branches or subsidiaries in North Korea.

The regulations prevent anyone from obtaining a financial service from a North Korean provider and prohibit providing financial services that contribute to North Korea's nuclear, ballistic missile or weapons of mass destruction programmes or any othr activity prohibited by the regulations (see regulation 43).

Import ban: Restricted items

The regulations prohibit importing (directly or indirectly), selling, or transferring a "restricted item" from North Korea to New Zealand. They also prohibit loading or carrying restricted items from North Korea on a New Zealand craft (see regulations 17-21 and regulation 3).

The following are all restricted items:

Gold

Silver

A rare metal

A base metal (copper, iron or iron ore, lead or lead ore, nickel, titanium ore, vanadium ore, and zinc)

Inspection

Goods (including luggage) that are either coming from or going to North Korea must be presented to the New Zealand Customs Service for inspection (see regulation 35).

Joint ventures

The regulations prohibit entering into a joint venture or cooperative enterprise with any North Korean person or entity. They also require that any existing joint ventures are terminated before 8 January 2018 (see regulations 35A and 35B).

Prohibitions related to aircraft

Aircraft carrying prohibited items cannot take off from, land in, or fly over New Zealand (see regulation 38).

The regulations also prohibit leasing or chartering any aircraft to North Korea, a person designated by the UN, or someone who is involved in prohibited activities (see regulation 41).

Prohibitions related to ships

The regulations prohibit providing fuel, supplies or other services to a ship if you have reasonable grounds to believe it is carrying prohibited items (see regulation 36).

The regulations also prevent ships that have been designated by the UN or are carrying prohibited items from entering into New Zealand ports (see regulation 39). Any ships designated by the UN will be listed here (external link).

Ships owned or controlled by North Korea cannot be registered in New Zealand (see regulation 40) and registering ships in North Korea is also prohibited (see regulation 42).

The regulations also prohibit leasing or chartering any ship to North Korea, a person designated by the UN, or someone who is involved in prohibited activities (see regulation 41).

Ship-to-ship transfers

The regulations prohibited transferring goods between a ship and any North Korean ship (see regulation 42A).

Travel ban

The regulations prohibit people designated by the UN, anyone acting on behalf of designated individuals, and anyone that New Zealand has determined is assisting in violating sanctions from entering or transiting through New Zealand (see regulation 47). You can access the list of people and entities designated by the UN here (external link).

Work authorisations

North Korean nationals are not entited to obtain a visa or any other authorisation that would allow them to work in New Zealand (see regulation 46A).

United Nations Security Council resolution restrictions

In addition to the restrictions in the sanctions regulations, the UNSC resolutions also restrict the following activities:

Education and training

The UNSC has prohibited states from providing specialised teaching or training of North Korean nationals in any subjects which could contribute to North Korea's proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities.

Scientific and technical cooperation

New Zealand must notify the UN North Korea sanctions committee of any scientific or technical cooperation undertaken between New Zealand and North Korea, and New Zealand must suspend scientific and technical cooperation with North Korea in the fields of: